Born to be Free

So here I am, back from a three week sabbatical.  I have needed a reset for awhile, some time to think and sort things out, get some fresh ideas into my brain, and give voice to more ponderings. :) ~ Most days you know what you're going to get.  Life seems pretty predictable and there's a rhythm, even if the rhythm means three people in the family working, six kids being schooled and a whole lot of people needing you to help them live their lives. Then you have one of  those  days.  One of the days when you've got a friend or a relative in the hospital; when a tire goes out on an old van and you're stuck; when you've got a friend who calls and talks for hours because they feel lost; or one of the days when you're on the other side of that phone. I knew a woman once who was so glued to her schedule that if anything went wrong, her whole week was ruined.  Whatever she had planned to do that day was no longer going to get done.  Her life was prett...

So, everybody around you?  They need somebody.  Maybe you could be that somebody? No one is impenetrable, there's a bit of broken inside each one of us - and our fears can roar like lions at night when the Devil tells us that we're just not enough. No matter our fronts, really - we're all afraid, sinking with every step. Nothing quite kills you like feeling alone - like you've got to do it all on your own. But there's this God - this Jesus Who "became a man to enable men to become sons of God". (C. S. Lewis) There's this God Who became embodied flesh, Who faced temptations at every moment - and conquered ours.  "For we do not have a priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15) He not only healed the sick, but raised the  dead .  Every time we read it, we proclaim it - that "He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all...

I have a part-time job as a librarian.  I see just about all kinds of novels and biographies.....and the lack of many Christian books besides those written by "Christians" such as Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen bothers me.  But I'm here to talk of good books - not those other things, so..... Here's what I've been up to. :D "Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World" by Bob Goff In this book, Goff strives to tell us - "My little children, let us not love in word or in talk, but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18)  We say we love one another, but thoughts and feelings are not enough.  To love one's neighbor is to make conscious effort both in mind and in spirit to show by our words and especially our actions our love for the people around us.  This is the point central to Goff's book.  A quote for you - " 'You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend?  A friend doesn't just sa...

It's so easy to run. When the dark is closing and hopeful voices quiet - what then?  Wouldn't it just be easier to turn away, walk away from the fight than to have to stay and face your fears? But dear reader, "Don't pray for the hard thing to go away, but pray for the bravery to come that is bigger than the hard thing." You've heard it - how "F.E.A.R." has two meanings. You've got a choice - Forget Everything And Run - or Face Everything And Rise. Proverbs 28:1 - "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." Don't you know?  "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) Your bravery?  It inspires countless others to fight their own battles. Maybe someday they'll tell you - how your endurance really ended up winning their battles too - "because I saw you still fighting, I knew I couldn't...

Last year I chose a word. My word was "trust" - and I was going to live by it. That five-letter-word took me on a crazy journey of learning to be open to change, open to accepting that I can't see the "why" of everything. So, this January I chose another word.  A small word.  A hard word..... Yes. And so here I am, not even mid-year - struggling to really grasp the depth of that word. Yes to whatever God asks - however hard, crazy, or out of my comfort zone it may seem. I want to live this dare.  I want to own it. But here I am - rushing, rushing, rushing........never remembering to stop and slow and just begin again. I need to start each day with a new perspective - His perspective - because mine doesn't work so well. That horrendous Friday, long, long ago? God's kingdom is an upside-down kingdom.  That day - He took it and crafted something beautiful from it. Now we call it a good Friday. Because this is our God - He makes b...

So, I came home from Bible Quiz Nationals a week ago today. I would be in a very different place in my life had it not been for this opportunity - these Scriptures, these people, these prayers, this crazy life that God is letting me have the privilege of living. Quizzing really has changed my life.  Before then, I was quite deeply introverted.  It was hard getting to know new people.  I also felt like when I was around my friends, I was not being 100% myself - I just kind of adapted to each group. Then I started quizzing - determined that I would be myself, and found that it really wasn't that hard to make friends.  I know that probably sounds weird for a then 16-year-old, but it is what it is.  I've always been afraid of the way(s) others perceive me, and as I've grown older, I've been slowly learning not to care so much. I had memorized 303 verses for this season - really only 1/4 of the material and nothing compared to what others have done, but to...

"I can see the Promised Land; Though there's pain within the plan, There is victory in the end; Your love is my battle cry. When my fears, like Jericho Build their walls around my soul, When my heart is overthrown -  Your love is my battle cry, The anthem for all my life. Every giant will fall, the mountains will move; Every chain of the past, You've broken in two. Over fear, over lies, we're singing the truth -  That nothing is impossible with You... There is hope within the fight, In the wars that rage inside; Though the shadows steal the light, Your love is my battle cry. Every giant will fall..." ( Rend Collective - "Every Giant Will Fall") You've heard his story a dozen times before - intrepid shepherd boy who faced the fear of the nation, a monstrous war-champion of the Philistines - alone. Maybe when we hear the stories again, we fail to ...